Hailey Potter And The Reason She Hates Books
by LightningMage 123
Summary: Hailey had accepted that her life was weird and full of surprises, but even she didn't think that the whole of Hogwarts, plus a few guests, would hear her past, present and future. Set somewhere in fifth year, before christmas, after the creation of the DA. This is a reading the books fic with a twist. Fem!Harry.
1. Who?

**AN:**

 **Hi, thank you for clicking on the pic to read as it is my first one. I am still messing around on this site so I apologise for any inconvenience. Please review and feel free to leave constructive criticism as it will help me improve.**

 **So, Enjoy**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this pic that is recognisable as Harry Potter.**

* * *

Hailey was tired. She had barely got any sleep last night as she had been doing all her homework. Hermione was beside her, lecturing her that she should of done it over the weekend instead of playing Quidditch. She thought that was unfair since she hadn't had any fun since 'Umbitch' had become her teacher. As she entered the great hall she didn't react as the whole school seemed to quieten. She wasn't naive, she knew they were talking about her. Probably how much of a 'deranged lunatic' she was. She stole a glance up at the head table to see 'the toad' glaring at her. Subconsciously he rubbed the back of her hand, a notion that was not missed by Umbridge or Hermione. She sighed, he hated that woman. She was probably the worst DADA teacher ever and that list included a mad death eater. Hermione and Ron both thought that she should go to Dumbledore. _He would probably just ignore her_ she thought sadly, NO, Angrily. _Dumbledore had been ignoring her since the trial. Not even a hint that he was happy that she, Hailey had got off._

Somehow, during her moping, she had managed to get to the gryffindor table without realising it. _Great_ she thought _Now I'm getting so angry at Dumbledore i'm missing out on my life._ She turned to her friends and was about to join in with their conversation when there was a bright, white flash, and several people materialised at the back of the hall.

For a moment everyone was stunned into silence as everyone stared at the new arrivals. Among them was Cornelius Fudge, Amelia Bones, Mad Eye Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, a rather large black dog, Draco's parents and the Weasleys. They were all looking around in confusion. The hall was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. That was until one of them spoke, well spoke was a understatement.

"I DEMAND TO KNOW WHERE I AM AND WHY I WAS SO RUDELY BROUGHT HERE" yelled a rather angry looking minister of magic.

Another bright flash of white light and a voice answered the, ratherly rudely asked, question.

"I brought you here minister, and I must say, next time you arrive in a new place, it would be a good idea not to yell"

* * *

The whole hall turned their eyes from the group at the back to a teenage girl standing at the front of the hall. She had long brown hair that was the colour of the trees in the forbidden forest, her eyes were the same bright blue as the great lake. She wore a medium length, pure white, dress which seemed to shimmer in the torch light. She produced an aura of power and wisdom, kindness and cunning, and the feeling that she was someone they should know, but had forgotten.

Fudge openly gaped at the girl. She had the nerve to insult him, HIM. He would not stand for it. His temper gave way.

"NOW LOOK HERE. I AM THE MINISTER FOR MAGIC AND I DEMAN-"

"I brought you here for a reason Cornelius and for future reference I really could not care less if you are minister for magic or not. " The girl said this with such authority in her voice that the whole hall was silent. The minister started spluttering indignantly and looked well on the verge of cursing her where she stood. "Now as I was going to say, before i was interrupted by this idiot, was that I gathered you here for a reason. A reason I never thought the circumstances would occur for… Now would you just spit out whatever it is you are trying to say, I really can't stand anymore of you insufferable spluttering."

"Wha?... You?... Who are you?" He finally managed to stammer out.

"Ahh, I am sorry for not introducing myself. My name is Harmony and I am the Human form of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry." She paused to take a look at the faces surrounding her. "I have brought you here to prevent some horrible things from taking place"

* * *

After this statement the whole hall was quiet. Impossible the whole school thought. Soon the hall burst out in whispers. The students spoke in hushed voices, 'Hogwarts human?' 'She's off her rocker!' 'Hogwarts a girl, in you dreams' 'What horrible things?'. The whole hall was shocked. Well almost. In fact the only person who seemed not surprised was Dumbledore. Instead of looking surprised he looked troubled. He like all the other headmasters of Hogwarts knew about the girl. She would show up whenever Hogwarts was in great danger. Last time she had appeared, other than to introduce herself to the head, was when the chamber of secrets had taken a life. So her appearance here was definitely most troubling.

* * *

Harmony was looking around the hall at everyone's faces. _Should I be doing this?_ She thought _I mean I have never interfered before, well by this much at least._ She pushed those thoughts to the side and approached Dumbledore.

"Can you get them to listen to me. When they do i will explain why I am here" she said. He nodded. Albus pulled out his wand and used the sonorous charm. He told everyone to listen to her. Harmony walked forward and addressed the school.

"Now, I am aware most of you do not believe what I said. However, there is grave danger coming to this school within the next year or so and it involves almost everyone in here." She paused to look at all the people watching her. "Me and and a friend have decided that it is time you lot know the truth and whatever problems it entails. We have managed to get a series of seven books that detail the life of a girl you all know, these will mostly be told from her point of view. I also have to warn you that whatever happens in the books will happen to the person in real life as you read it. It is horrible but it the cost of showing you all the future. Now I have to go, but, NO ONE is allowed to leave this hall until all these books are read. I must take my leave now."

She nodded to Albus and handed him a stack of seven books. She then promptly disappeared in a flash of white light. No one spoke. The hall was quieter than it had been in many years. There was another brilliant flash of bright, white, light and the hall had changed. All the house tables had disappeared and instead were replaced by sofas Which they all sat down at. Dumbledore read the title of the first book.

"HAILEY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE"


	2. The Girl Who Lived

**AN:**

 **So Wow, I really didn't expect so many readers so soon. I never used to believe writers when they said that chapters could be thirty or so pages long. I believe them now. I'm quite proud of how this turned out after a few weeks of on and off writing.**

 **So anyway, enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, no matter how much I wish I did.**

* * *

Normal Text

 **From the book**

* * *

Upon hearing the title Hailey looked at her best friends. What would they do when they find out how the dursleys treated her. She looked up at Dumbledore as if to ask if this was all a joke. For the first time in months he caught her eye. He seemed to know what she wanted to ask. He shook his head.

"Get on with it Dumbledore I want this over as quick as possible" snapped Fudge.

"WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME" I yelled. I really couldn't care less if I seemed like a whining child. It was true. It always happened to me.

"I'm sorry about this Ms Potter, but as she said we can't leave here until the books are done. Perhaps you would feel better if a certain God-father would make an appearance?" Dumbledore said this and nodded to Sirius. Sirius took the hint and transformed from Snuffles into his human form. He then, to the surprise of the hall, went and sat next to Hailey.

"SIRIUS BLACK" screeched Umbridge and Fudge. Fudge then started to demand Amelia Bones arrest him at once. At this I was furious, they were going to arrest him just because he came to comfort me. I stood up and shouted at the minister of magic.

"HOW ABOUT YOU DON'T ARREST HIM AND LEAVE HIM ALONE. SEEING HOW IT SEEMS WE ARE READING ABOUT MY LIFE IT WILL BE PROVEN THAT HE WAS INNOCENT IN YEAR THREE. HOW ABOUT YOU JUST SHUT UP AND STOP ACCUSING PEOPLE OF THINGS THAT THEY HAVEN'T DONE. I AM DEALING WITH THE WHOLE SCHOOL FINDING OUT MY LIFE FROM MY PERSPECTIVE NO LESS WHICH PROBABLY MEANS THAT YOU WILL HEAR MY THOUGHTS AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF I WILL FEEL THE PAIN FROM IT AT THE SAME TIME. SO HOW ABOUT YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND WE GET THIS DONE". When I was done I sat down at Sirius' side. At my outburst the whole hall was quiet. No one other that Ron and Hermione had ever heard me shout like that. I think that they were more scared of me then that when they thought I was the heir of slytherin.

The hall was silent for a few minutes before Dumbledore suggested starting the chapter. No one opposed him so he started reading.

Chapter one - the girl who lived

 **Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal thank you very much.**

"Who are the Dursleys?" asked a fourth year hufflepuff.

"The muggles I have to live with" I said, hatred laced within every word.

 **They were the the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense**

"Magic is not nonsense" yelled a second year ravenclaw.

 **Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"What are drills?" asked Draco. The hall shushed him.

 **He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.**

"Eww" squeaked Lavender and Parvati, "How are you related".

"I wish I wasn't" muttered Hailey quietly. Sirius looked at her in concern, wondering what happend to generate the hate in her voice.

 **Mrs Dursley was tin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.**

"Delightfull" muttered Professor Sprout. The sentiment was echoed around the hall.

 **The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

Anyone who had ever seen Dudley Dursley snorted.

 **The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.**

Confused mutterings were going around the hall. The same question on everyone's lips.

 **They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"What's wrong with the Potter's?" asked Sirius, standing up, "They were the nicest people you could ever meet!".

The hall looked at him stunned. Sirius Black, the man famous for betraying the Potter's was here defending them. After a minute or two he sat back down sheepishly and nodded to Albus to continue.

 **Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband**

"Good-for-nothing, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING. JAMES WAS AN AMAZING PERSON" yelled, surprise, surprise, Sirius. He jumped up. "I'LL SHOW YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTH…"

He didn't get another word in as Hailey had stood up, silenced him, and pulled him back down. She whispered something in his ear and undid the charm. The hall was quiet after his outburst. The only noise was his muttering about the Dursleys. Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued.

 **were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

"Undursleyish is not a word" muttered a 7th year ravenclaw.

 **The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small daughter, but they had never even seen her. This girl was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Well I wouldn't want any of my children spending any time around Dudley" Mrs Weasley exclaimed.

"Shh Molly" whispered Arthur.

 **When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country.**

"What day is it" asked a first year.

 **Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Most boring tie, what do you" started Fred

"Mean most boring tie. I" continued George

"As to say my twin and I"

"Would never stand for such"

"Blasphemy" they finished together. Angelina playfully hit them on the back of their heads.

 **None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

 **At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

 **It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map.**

"IT'S MINNIE" yelled Sirius. Professor Mcgonagall sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. No matter how many times she had told him to stop, he still called her that awful Nickname.

 **For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light.**

"Stupid Muggle" drawled Draco. His mother gave him a disappointed look.

 **Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.**

At this the hall burst out laughing. No one out stared Mcgonagall.

 **As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.**

Again, the hall fell about laughing.

"We now know"

"Professor Mcgonagall's weakness"

"She can't read"

 **Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"He certainly has a one track mind"

 **But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"Whats strange about cloaks?" asked one of the 6th year slytherins.

"Muggles don't wear cloaks" replied Hailey.

"Weird" remarked the Slytherin. Many of Muggleborns snorted.

M **r. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something...**

"He thinks that you are wearing cloaks for charity" Hailey said before anyone could ask.

 **yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

 **Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time.**

"How have they never seen owls? Do they not get any post?" questioned a pureblood

"Muggles don't use owls to send post. They use a post box" replied Terry Boot.

 **Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road**

"He walked!" exclaimed Hailey "The world must be ending, tell me it's not true Fred"

"Alas Hailey it be true" answered Fred

"He has in fact decided to take a walk" continued George

"We must prepare for the end" they finished together.

All three of them burst out laughing at the confused gaze of the hall. When they had calmed down Sirius gave the twins a thumbs up for cheering Hailey up. Draco stared glumly from the other side of the hall, he wished he could joke with Hailey like that.

 **to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

"Ahh, everything's fine then. The world shall not end today" whispered Hailey in an eerily good impression of Trelawny. Anyone who had taken divination laughed.

 **He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

 **"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their daughter, Hailey"**

Any laughter in the room died as everyone realised what day this must be. All the adults turned to look at Hailey in sadness and Sirius pulled her into a one-armed Hug. Hermione and Ron watched her from her other side. The twins looked at her from there sofa behind her with sad expressions. Unnoticed by everyone except Narcissa, Draco looked at her too in sympathy. Narcissa let out a small smile, she knew that her dragon had a crush on Miss Potter but wouldn't act on it.

 **Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

 **He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name.**

"Yes it is" said Neville "There's only one family in the Wizarding world with the surname Potter. You're from a very influential family. I should know, our families have been allied for years."

"Really?" asked Hailey "I didn't know"

"What, You didn't know?" asked Narcissa Malfoy.

"No, why"

"Pup, your magical guardian should have told you this years ago. You maybe a half-blood but the Potters are still a very old pureblood house. You actually outrank Malfoy. Are you telling me that your magical guardian hasn't been teaching you everything that comes with being an heir to an Ancient and Most Noble House?" Sirius explained.

"I honestly didn't know that the wizarding world existed until I got my Hogwarts letter. And what's a magical guardian?"

"WHAT!" yelled pretty much everyone.

"You don't know" asked Sirius faintly. "After this I am having a serious talk with Dumbledore"

 **He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a daughter called Hailey. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his niece was called Hailey. He'd never even seen the girl. It might have been Harriet. Or Hermione.**

"He didn't even know your name!"

 **There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

There was angry muttering all around the hall.

 **He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"Sorry,"

"He knows the word 'Sorry'"

 **he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It**

 **was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

The sound of face-palming could be heard around the hall.

"How close were we to being found out that day" Arthur Weasley whispered to Madame Bones. She shrugged in reply.

 **And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"He fit!"

 **Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

Fred, George and Sirius all simultaneously pretended to have heart attacks to the amusement of the room.

"Knock it off" Sighed Remus

"But Moony, it's blasphemy I tell you blasphemy"

'Moony" the twins mouthed to themselves after Remus had got Sirius to stop acting like an Idiot.

 **As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.

The hall was shocked silent for a minute, trying to imagine someone tell the strict transfiguration Professor to 'Shoo'. The Weasley twins were the first to laugh, closely followed by the marauders. In a few minutes time there wasn't anyone in the hall that wasn't laughing at the thought of a Muggle saying that to Mcgonagall. They didn't stop for a few minutes even after being given Mcgonagall's patented glare.

 **The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior?**

"It's normal Mcgonagall behaviour" quipped Lee Jordan.

 **Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

There were mutterings of 'stubborn' around the hall.

 **Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

Narcissa shook her head at this, she may spoil Draco but even he wasn't as bad as this.

 **Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

 **"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern."**

"Even the muggles noticed something was up that day" commented Madame Bones.

 **The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

 **"Well, Ted,"**

"That sounds like my dad" exclaimed Tonks, "He used to work for a news company".

 **said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks!**

"That sounds like Diggle" Tonks whispered to Kingsley.

 **But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

 **Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

 **Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

"No offence, but why would hearing from her sister mean anything. I mean it had just happened that day, so unless she had contacted her that morning she wouldn't have known." a second year pointed out.

 **As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

Surprisingly it was Snape who looked ready to commit murder at this statement. 'Oh Petunia' he thought 'How jealous can you be'

 **"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

 **"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

 **"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

 **"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."**

"Her crowd" muttered many people around the hall.

 **Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare.**

"Coward" muttered many of the Gryffindors.

 **Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their daughter - she'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't she?"**

 **"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

 **"What's her name again? Harret, isn't it?"**

 **"Hailey. Nasty, modern name, if you ask me."**

"You're name is cool." whispered Sirius, "I still remember your parents arguing over it"

"Really" asked Hailey. She looked up, she was always interested in any stories about her parents as she hadn't heard much about them other than that she had her father's untameable hair, her mother's eyes and a mix of both their facial features. She was apparently short like Lily was but had the same mischievous stance that her father had.

"Yeah" said Remus getting ready to tell the story, "Lily had just told James that she was pregnant and James just fainted on the spot" he smiled at the memory.

Sirius continued "After laughing for a few minutes me and Remus cast enervate on him, he woke up and the first question he could think of was if Lily had thought of a name. She said that she hadn't given it much thought as she had only just found out."

"James whispered to Sirius that they should call you 'Proof I Had Sex With Lily Evans' and Lily heard. Me and Sirius stood there laughing as Lily chased James around the house yelling and hexing him." At this point the whole hall was listening in and laughing, including Remus so Sirius had to carry on.

"After half an hour of this James hid behind me and said that Lily could name you whatever she wanted and only then did she lower her wand. James was covered in different spells and hexes, his hair was neon green, his clothes were pink and purple and his skin was red and white polka dots. A couple months later Lily had decided on a name and your father chose wisely to agree.". Hailey was crying with laughter at this, it had definitely cheered her up.

 **"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

 **He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there.**

 **It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

 **Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

Anyone left laughing, sobered up, at the reminder of how much the dursleys hated the magical community. The weasley twins, Lee Jordan and Remus could be heard plotting.

 **The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...**

"He shouldn't have said that"

"Murphy's law" said Anthony Goldstein

"It should be renamed Potter's law" said Hailey and anyone who knew of her adventures and luck agreed.

 **How very wrong he was.**

"Called it" shouted Anthony.

 **Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"Damn Minnie" exclaimed Sirius, looking shocked. In fact he wasn't the only one, most of the hall were looking at the transfiguration professor like she had grown two heads. This lasted for not even a minute, before she leveled them all with a glare that made all but those that were used to it, e.i. the Marauders and Weasley twins, look at the floor.

 **A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

"Whoever he is he's in trouble" Sirius stage-whispered to Hailey, making her laugh.

 **Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**

"IT'S DUMBLEDORE"

 **This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Knew it"

 **Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"I knew I just didn't care" commented Dumbledore while he pauses the reading to unwrap a lemon drop.

 **He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

"Known what" grunted Crabbe, or was it Goyle. Draco shushed them, if he was in his room he would have face-palmed at their stupidity. How people thought they were his best-friends he would never know.

 **He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"Cool" was whispered around the hall. Many were looking fearfully and moving backwards at what was coming to be know as the Weasley twins prank face. No one wanted to know what would happen if they got a hold of one of them.

 **He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement.**

Fred and George's smirks were getting bigger.

"Oh Professor Dumbledore"

"Our favorite Professor"

"You wouldn't happen to know"

"Where my twin and I"

"Could get our hands on one of those"

"Simply marvelous devices?"

"Sorry Boys as far as I am aware, mine is the only one in existence, as I am the one who created it" replied Dumbledore seeming not bothered by their speech, unlike many others that were feeling the beginnings of a headache.

 **Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

"Imagine someone just walked into this without any idea about magic" commented a 3rd year Ravenclaw. Her friend next to her snorted.

 **"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

 **He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

 **"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

 **"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

Sirius snorted.

 **"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

 **"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

 **Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"How does one sniff angrily"

"Like that apparently"

 **"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.**

 **"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"It probably was"

 **"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

Most of the Adults grimaced at the reminder of the last war while those who weren't old enough to have memories of it, sat in shock of it lasting so long. Most turned to Hailey, not realising exactly what she had done.

 **"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

 **She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all.**

"That would be ironic"

 **I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

 **"It certainly seems so,"**

"Ah-ha" screeched Umbridge "You said it yourself that he has gone"

"He said that about fourteen years ago, you can't hold him to it. Other evidence could have come up"

"Delores, now is not the time" whispered Fudge in her ear when he saw most of the hall give her disgusted looks.

 **said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

Anyone who had ever been invited to the Headmaster's office snorted. He was well known for offering the strange, yellow sweets.

 **"A what?"**

 **"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

"Understatement" someone muttered.

 **"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

 **"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.**

"Exactly" said Hailey "There's no reason to be scared of a name, it only gives them power that they can use against you"

"Well said Ms Potter"

 **"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

"I pretty sure that You-Know-Who should be afraid of Hailey when she is angry. She's bloody scary" Ron whispered to Hermione. Hermione sat there wondering whether to hit him or laugh, she decided on both.

 **"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"Only because you are too noble to use them" said Hailey.

 **"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

Everyone laughed.

 **"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

"TMI" yelled the weasley twins which got laughs from everyone

 **Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

Many in the hall turned to look at Hailey who was hiding her face in Sirius' shoulder. He seemed to sense that she didn't want the attention so he decided to unleash a glare at anyone who stared at her like an animal in the zoo, coinsidently, that was most of the hall was doing.

 **It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true.**

Some of the Slytherins scoffed.

 **Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

As one, the hall snorted.

"Sir are you addicted to lemon drops" asked a Dennis Creevey. Dumbledore just winked and pulled one of the sweets in question out of his pocket and proceeded to eat it.

Mutterings of 'Mad' 'Completely barmy" could be heard from the Slytherin table. Most, if not all the Slytherins' didn't like him because of his obvious favoritism of Gryffindor and the Golden Trio.

 **"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. "**

Anyone who knew the Potter's bowed their heads.

 **Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

 **"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

Sirius sniffed, Umbridge sneered and Remus wiped his eyes.

 **Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

 **Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's child, Hailey. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little girl. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Hailey Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone.**

Hailey lifted her head up and looked around at the sad hall. She whispered to Hermione.

"When they say it like that it sounds ridiculous and completely unbelievable". Hermione gave her a look and then smiled, appreciating the girl's attempt at alleviating the sad atmosphere of the hall.

 **Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

 **"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little girl? It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did she survive?"**

 **"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

'But you do know' thought Hailey, she glanced up at him and saw that he was avoiding her gaze like he had been the whole year.

 **Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

 **"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

 **"I've come to bring Hailey to her aunt and uncle. They're the only family she has left now."**

"They're more of acquaintances that I have to deal with. I would rather have been placed anywhere else." she muttered. Thanks to them she has some scars that will never leave, both physically and mentally.

 **"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Hailey Potter come and live here!"**

 **"It's the best place for her," said Dumbledore firmly. "Her aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to her when she's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A LETTER" yelled Molly Weasley "YOU PLAN ON TELLING HER THAT HER SISTER JUST DIED IN A LETTER AND THAT SHE NOW HAS TO CARE FOR HER NIECE".

Despite cringing away from the shouting Weasley matriarch, many were nodding in agreement and glaring a Dumbledore. Dumbledore wisely decided to not say anything. Madame Bones got out her notebook and started writing things down.

 **"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand her! She'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Hailey Potter day in the future**

A sudden burst of coughing by the gryffindor side drew the hall's attention. Sirius thumped Hailey on the back and looked at her worriedly.

"Tell me there's not actually a Hailey Potter day" she asked faintly.

"Why, you want one Potter" yelled Malfoy. Secretly he thought that there should be as she was viewed as a hero by most people and … no other reason, no other reason at all. Narcissa gave her son a knowing look.

"No" said Arthur Weasley, "The paperwork for it was destroyed in a small interdepartmental fire"

"Thank Merlin! I'd hate that"

Ron leaned over and whispered into her ear, "The day of the interdepartmental fire was also the last day the Twins were allowed into the MOM, apparently their three year old selves had gotten ahold of someones wand and had tried a spell they had seen someone do."

Hailey looked at them and they mock bowed, she laughed and shook her head.

 **\- there will be books written about Hailey**

"Pretty sure they are all false as I haven't told anyone what happened and I would pay to see someone ask Voldemort for an interview" stated Hailey. Sirius' bark like laughter could be heard from outside the hall.

 **\- every child in our world will know her name!"**

 **"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn anybodys head. Famous before she can walk and talk! Famous for something she won't even remember! Can you not see how much better off she'll be, growing up away from all that until she's ready to take it?"**

"It's a good reason for me to grow up way from the wizarding world but anyone would have been better than the dursleys"

 **Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the girl getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

 **"Hagrid's bringing him."**

 **"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I would trust Hagrid with my life"

 **I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

Hagrid beamed at both of them.

 **"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

"What's what?" asked a first year.

"Maybe let the headmaster finish" replied their friend.

 **A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Ah-ha. That's illegal you filthy half-bre…" exclaimed Umbridge, she stopped speaking when she saw the whole hall glaring at her, she looked across at her dear Cornelius, he was also looking at her in disappointment. She shrank back into her chair.

"I think that is my motorbike" said Sirius calmly, "I had wondered what has happened to it"

"I've still got it" Hagrid told Sirius, "It's shrunk down in my hut"

"Ok, thanks Hagrid"

 **If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride**

 **it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

 **"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

"Sirius, where did you get the motorcycle from?"

"You're Mum actually. She told me about them in my third year and that started a trend of every year her getting me something to do with motorbikes and I getting her something to do with magical transport. She got me the bike as a christmas present in 7th year. I spent the better part of two years charming it to fly and other cool things"

 **"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me.**

"You were at Godric's Hollow?" questioned Madame Bones.

"Yeah" said Sirius, remembering the site, "I was the first to go inside the house, the first to see the bo… damage". Hailey gave him a hug that he leaned into. Madame Bones made some more notes in her notebook.

 **I've got her, sir."**

 **"No problems, were there?"**

 **"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got her out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. She fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

Many girls aww'd.

 **Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby girl, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair that shimmered dark red in the low light, there was a curious shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning, on her pale forehead.**

A few people turned, trying to get a good look at her and her famous scar. Hailey rearranged her fringe so that it covered the thrice cursed scar and glared at those who dared look disappointed. The twins couldn't help but feel scared when the gaze was directed at them for sniggering at her discomfort.

 **"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

 **"Yes," said Dumbledore. "She'll have that scar forever."**

 **"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

Hailey looked up in hope. She hated that scar and all the attention it brought her. She then looked down and bit her lip. _If he could or was willing to he would have already done it._

 **"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

"How convenient"

 **Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

 **Dumbledore took her in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. "Could I - could I say good-bye to her, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Hailey and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.**

"Thanks Hagrid" deadpanned Hailey. Making Ron snicker until Hermione hit him over the head.

 **Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

Sirius looked affronted.

 **"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

 **"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Hailey off ter live with Muggles -"**

 **"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Hailey gently on the doorstep,**

"DOORSTEP!?" yelled Molly Weasley and surprisingly Narcissa Malfoy. Arthur put a hand on Molly to calm her down and Lucius tried the same until Narcissa had a thought.

"Tell me you at least put a warming charm on her" she said, her voice a deceptive calm taking over her features. Many blanched at the implications. Dumbledore was looking really uncomfortable right now. Amelia was scribbling away rapidly in her note book. Sirius looked to be reaching for his wand and Remus wasn't that far behind. They both looked rather Murderous. Hailey pulled them back into their seats and gave them another look.

"But Pup, it was a DOORSTOP"

"Cub, it was November. H e could have caused some serious damage to you."

"I know, but I'm fine and… if you go after him now we won't finish the chapter and I really want it to end. I'm quite aware how cold it is"

The last living worthy Marauders gave each other looks and pulled her into a hug. Sirius leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Ok, for now we will calm down, but Prongslet, after this we can go interrogate Dumbledore. Maybe you will have some questions for him"

Dumbledore cleared his throat and suggested that they continued the story, everyone agreed for now.

 **took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

Angry muttering could be heard from the adults. At some point during the earlier comotion Narcissa and Molly managed to sit together and the grown men were shooting them fear filled look as the two women seemed to get over there usual hatred of each over to discuss ways to get back at Dumbledore and what might have happened to Hailey.

 **For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at**

 **the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall**

 **blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

 **"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"You leave a newly orphaned child to go celebrate" scoffed Narcissa.

 **"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

 **Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"Cool" muttered Colin Creevey "No matter what you say, it's still cool"

 **"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

 **Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and** **twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps**

It was the twins turn to have awestruck faces. No one wanted to imagine what they could do with equipment like that.

 **so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

 **"Good luck, Hailey Potter" he murmured.**

"I'll need it" whispered Hailey, so quietly that only Remus with his super hearing could hear her. Remus wondered what happened to his cub for her to give that ominous message in such a broken voice.

 **He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

 **A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Hailey Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside her and she slept on, not knowing she was special, not knowing she was famous, not knowing she would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that she would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by her cousin Dudley... She couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Hailey Potter - the girl who lived!"**

The room was quiet at the end of the chapter. Dumbledore took a minute to compose himself and then asked who wanted to read next. Minerva looked around at the hall and volunteered to read. She summoned the book of the Headmaster, cleared her throat, and began to read in a load voice.

"The Vanishing Glass"


	3. The Vanishing Glass

**So, hi**

 **Sorry it's been so long, as i've said before i really don't write that often or in some sort of pattern. That said, it's been great to read your reviews and knowing that some people are actually reading this, or were. Oh well. Reading back I can see that instead of writing fic it's been writing pic. Which i thought was funny as it doesn't make much sense. Also, I want people's opinions. How soon should I make it differentiate majorly from cannon, I mean, i've already planned to change certain things but what about not only sitting with Ron on the first train ride or her having more powers than in cannon. I've already made the Dursleys a lot more abusive than they were in cannon I think it just fits with the story and i'm not going to have a too manipulative Dumbledore (No matter how much i enjoy fic's like that). So, idea's?**

 **Enjoy, Lightning**

 **Do i even need a disclaimer at this point, we already know I don't own it.**

* * *

"The Vanishing glass" announced Mcgonagall and then proceeded to raise an eyebrow. Hailey looked down and didn't say anything. She knew that she hid her ability, it was what she had always done, a side effect of the Dursleys. This chapter would also show her home life and that scared her. She had changed alot and the childish taunts of the Dursleys saying that she was worthless didn't faze her anymore but the memories of the hopeless feeling and crippling loneliness she had 'enjoyed' in her youth were hard to get rid off. She could guess from the title that it would show the incident at the zoo, she still hadn't told Sirius that she was a parselmouth. She knew about his hatred of all things slytherin, she hoped it wouldn't matter but she still held onto that old insecurity that everyone would abandon her. She snuggled into Sirius' side.

Sirius looked down at his God-daughter and gave her a one-armed hug. He could see the conflicting emotions in her body language and he wondered what he was going to hear that made her want the reassurance that he was there. He steeled himself, whatever it was didn't matter. He had let down his Pup enough and he would be there for her in whatever this is. He sent a look at Dumbledore that clearly said 'We will definitely speak later'. Mcgonagall cleared her throat loudly to silence the muttering.

 **Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their niece on the front door step.**

"10 years, why don't we get to hear about little Hailey's childhood adventures" asked Sirius with a smile. Inside however he was worried, ' _why would it skip over her childhood'_

 **but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.**

"After 10 years?"

"Creepy"

 **The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living**

 **room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls.**

"Definitely creepy"

 **Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed.**

"Aww, I bet there are some cute baby pictures of you Hailey" Squealed Lavender. Parvati nodded in agreement with her best friend.

 **Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets**

All the baby lovers went 'aww', and everyone else cringed.

 **but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another child lived in the house, too.**

"Huh"

"What"

"Where's Potter"

Were some of the many comments echoing around the hall. Hailey curled into Sirius' side, head buried in his shirt. Sirius looked at her, confused. Why wouldn't there be any photos of her and why would she react that way.

 **Yet Hailey Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for**

 **long. Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

Anyone who had ever met or heard her, winced.

"Wow pup, how are you not deaf"

Hailey didn't move other than to bury herself further in his jacket.

 **"Up! Get up! Now!"**

 **Hailey woke with a start. Her aunt rapped on the door again.**

 **"Up!" she screeched. Hailey heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. She rolled onto her back and tried to remember the dream she had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it, and lights turning on and off. She had a funny feeling she'd had the same dream before.**

The hall was yet again, silenced.

"You… remember that night" stated Sirius. Hailey nodded into Sirius's side. She strained her voice so she could be heard.

"Yeah, it wasn't much… just green light...I remember more now...thanks to the dementors"

No one could say anything to that.

 **Her aunt was back outside the door.**

 **"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

 **"Nearly," said Hailey.**

 **"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"THEY MADE YOU COOK" yelled both Mrs Weasley and Narcissa. Both Husbands looked panicked and tried to pacify their wives **.**

"NO CHILD SHOULD BE MADE TO COOK"

"ESPECIALLY NOT A LADY OF AN ANCIENT AND MOST NOBLE HOUSE"

Hailey stiffened and raised her head from Sirius' side.

"What do you mean, Lady of an ancient and most noble house. I thought you said Heir, not Lady"

"Ms Potter, unless I'm misinformed, you were tried as an adult, as such, it means the ministry recognises you as an adult. Not to mention your name came out of the goblet of fire. Whether you put it in or not, an ancient magical artifact, accepted you as an adult, meaning magic itself has accepted you as an adult."

"Of course!" interrupted Sirius, "That makes sense. It would mean that you are Lady Potter"

Narcissa leveled her cousin a glare and continued, "I don't know what happened to you for magic to see you that way but I suspect we will see that some time soon"

 **Hailey groaned.**

 **"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door. "Nothing, nothing..."**

 **Dudley's birthday - how could she have forgotten? He was always going on about it.**

A few people laughed. He sounded like a real spoiled brat. Reminding a few of a certain blonde haired slytherin.

 **Hailey got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. She found a pair under her bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them,**

Ron shuddered at the mention of spiders.

 **put them on. Harry was used to spiders,**

"How are you so used to spiders mate" asked Ron

"I don't know why she can, but it was really useful the other day. Our dorm's personal hero" exclaimed Parvati.

"What happened?"

"Well" said Fay "It was late, last saturday evening. We were all up talking in the dorm and playing truth or dare when Hermione dared Parvati to sit on the floor in the bathroom, in the dark, for 10 minutes."

"So, i went in and sat down on the floor, leaning back onto the shower door." continued Parvati "It was dark and really creepy but I was doing fine until I felt something small creep up my leg"

"We heard her scream and I swear I have never seen anyone move so fast as Hailey did when she went to see what had happened." explained Lavender "She turned the light on and we saw this massive spider crawling up Parvati's leg. She looked to be having a mini panic attack so Hailey went forward, cupped her hands and scooped up the spider. She then went back into the dorm, found an empty jar and placed the spider inside it, put the lid on to make sure it could not escape and went back to help me comfort Parvati"

"When we asked why she didn't just kill the spider she responded by saying that 'It didn't deserve to die for being in the wrong place at the wrong time'"

Hermione, Ron, Cho, Dumbledore and Sirius flinched at those words. Hailey had used them to describe what had happened to Cedric.

 **because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,**

"Why would that matter" asked Zacharias Smith in his usual obnoxious tone. When other's glared at him for interrupting, he shrugged and replied "What? Its true"

 **and that was where she slept.**

Yet again silenced enveloped the room, although this time it was only a matter of seconds before

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'THAT WAS WHERE SHE SLEPT'" yelled many people, most noticeably Narcissa, Molly, Remus, Mcgonagall and Sirius. All of them but Sirius had stood up, but they were all looking murderous. Actually it wasn't just them, most people around the hall looked ready to strangle the Dursleys, even the most die-hard Voldemort supporters in the room looked livid. Hailey whimpered and buried her head in Sirius' side again. She hated how everyone was hearing about her past and she hated the pitying looks she would get from now on.

While everyone was screaming in outrage, Umbridge was thinking of ways she could use this new knowledge to her advantage. She was wearing a small sadistic smile on her face, which luckily for her, no one noticed.

After a few minutes of everyone screaming at Dumbledore, the not-there Dursleys and just screaming for the sake of screaming, Hailey had enough. She jumped up and yelled, her magic whipping around her and the hall making them stop talking, as she did so.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP" and they did. It was rare to see someone able to command there magic in such a way, and practically unheard of for someone her age to do it.

"Yes, this happened. No, I do not sleep there any longer and you should all calm down. There will likely be more places where you want to scream at or curse certain people, but I want you to remember that the majority of this has already happened and cannot be change. We need to learn from what has happened and we cannot do that if you all won't BE QUIET"

Hailey nodded to professor Mcgonagall to continue reading and sat down on the sofa with her arms crossed, looking at the book expectantly. Slowly everyone registered what she said and sat down sheepishly, also looking at the Gryffindor Head of House, expectantly. Just as Mcgonagall cleared her throat to read, Hailey heard Harmony whisper into her ear,

"Well done"

 **When she was dressed she went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

Many purebloods looked confused at all the muggle things mentioned. A few muggle-borns and half-bloods took pity on them and explained what they were.

 **Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to her, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise**

"Definitely not a Ladies man" quipped Lee Jordan. A few people laughed but many were still shaken up at the revelation of Hailey's homelife.

 **unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

"It better not have been you" Sirius whispered. The statement was echoed in the minds of many across the hall.

 **Dudley's favorite punching bag was Hailey, but he couldn't often catch her. She didn't look it, but she was very fast.**

"Yeah, you definitely are. You could beat us all when you were still a firstie. You're even faster now" stated Katie.

 **Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Hailey had always been small and skinny for her age.**

"Nah" laughed Remus, "That's just the Potter-Evans genes". ' _It can't of helped though'_ he thought. Across the room Madame Pomfrey was writing a list of everything she needed to check her favorite student for.

 **She looked even smaller and skinnier than she really was because all she had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than she was. Not to mention broarder and a boy.**

"Second-hand boys clothes" cringed the more fashion forward girls

 **Hailey had a thin face, knobbly knees, bright green eyes and black hair with dark red highlights which shimmered in the sun. She wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched her on the nose.**

"Did no one ever tell him not to hit a girl"

"I'll punch him on the nose"

 **The only thing Hailey liked about her own appearance was a very thin scar on her forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"You actually liked that?" asked Hermione. She, like Ron, knew how much she hated that scar and all it represents.

"That was back before I knew what it meant" she replied

 **She had had it as long as she could remember, and the first question she could ever remember asking Petunia was how she had gotten it.**

 **"In the car crash when your parents died,"**

"They told you your parents died in a car crash"

"Lying, deceitful, little …" Sirius had been silenced so as to not corrupt the innocent little firsties' vocabulary.

 **she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

' _I wonder if this is why she doesn't ask many questions'_ thought many of the teachers.

 **Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

 **Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Hailey was turning over the bacon. "Comb your hair!"**

"No use" laughed Remus "according to James, no Potter has ever managed to make it lie straight"

Sirius nodded in agreement. He would have said something but he hadn't been unsilenced yet. Hermione noticed this and took pity on him and undid it.

 **he barked**

"What is he? A dog"

"Hey! I take offense to that"

"Knock it off Padfoot"

 **by way of a morning greeting.**

"What happened to saying hello?" asked Tracy Davis

"It's too civilized" responded her friend Daphne Greengrass.

 **About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Hailey needed a haircut. Hailey must have had more haircuts than the rest her class put together, but it made no difference, her hair simply grew that way - all over the place, every girls' nightmare.**

Many girls nodded in agreement.

 **Hailey was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often says that Dudley looks like a baby angel**

Almost everyone snorted.

 **\- Hailey often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

The Weasley twins started clapping and many others did as well.

 **Hailey put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

 **"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"What a spoiled brat!"

' _Even i'm not that bad'_ thought Draco ' _No wonder Hailey turned down my offer to be her friend. I probably reminded her of him. Bollocks, i'll never get a chance with her now'_

 **"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

 **"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.**

 **Hailey, who could predict the Dursley's moods almost as quick as they changed, could see the beginnings of a Dudley Tantrum. She began wolfing down her breakfast (one piece of bacon and a single slice of toast) as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"He's strong enough to turn over the table?"

"Yeah, he's quite strong" said Hailey. She winced at the memories of Dudley punching her, he had a rather mean right-hook.

 **Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right''**

"THAT IS NOT HOW YOU RAISE A CHILD!" yelled Molly. Appalled at how bad at parenting those two seemed to be. Arthur had to pull her back down into her seat to stop her ranting.

 **Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."**

"Holy Merlin. He can't even count. How stupid can you be"

 **"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

 **"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

 **Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"You shouldn't encourage that" tsked Mcgonagall.

 **At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Hailey and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

 **"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take her." She jerked her head in Hailey's direction.**

"Oh, what happened"

"She tripped over one of her cats"

 **Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Hailey's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Hailey was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady**

"Mad old cat lady. Sorry". Those who had met Mrs Figg, laughed.

 **who lived two streets away. Hailey didn't really like it there. Don't get her wrong, Mrs Figg wasn't that bad but, the whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made her look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. She also seemed to know something Hailey didn't but wouldn't outright say it. It was confusing.**

"I didn't realise it was because i'm famous" Hailey muttered.

 **"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Hailey as though she'd planned this.**

"Off course. I spend my free time making evil plans to torture my relatives" Hailey scoffed

"Of course Hails, everyone knows you're a disturbed, insane individual who enjoys torturing mundanes" commented Ron. Hailey and Hermione snorted and then burst out laughing. Others just looked on, surprised at how the 'Golden Trio' acted. Through their laughter Hermione managed to get out one last sentence.

"I see you read that dictionary I threw at you over the summer"

 **Hailey knew she ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had**

 **broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when she reminded herself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"What awful names"

 **"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"Is that the aunt you blew up?" a Slytherin first year asked.

"Yeah it is, but to be honest she deserved it"

Many looked shocked at what she said.

"So, the Golden-Girl doesn't like muggles, I didn't see that coming" taunted a Slytherin upper year who Hailey thought was a death-eater or at least was going to be as soon as he graduated. She took a deep breath and let out a smirk to do Salazar proud.

"If you are honestly stupid enough to take that from my statement then you are proof of what inbreeding can do to the mind" she snarked. The smug smile the slytherin was wearing evaporated. Quite a few people sniggered behind their hands at the look on his face.

Hailey turned back to address the first year.

"I assume you will find out exactly what she did in the third book, but to sum it up, she insulted my parents". The few people who had made the mistake of doing that in front of her or those who had witnessed her response winced. You didn't talk ill of Potter's parents where she can hear you unless you wanted to visit the hospital wing. Too many had found that out the hard way, if there was one thing that pissed her off, it was that.

 **"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the brat."**

 **The Dursleys often spoke about Hailey like this, as though she wasn't there - or rather, as though she was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

"Yeah well you have the intelligence of a slug" muttered Hermione, making those who heard her laugh.

 **"What about what's-his-name, your friend - Ian?"**

 **"On vacation in Majorca with his wife" snapped Aunt Petunia.**

Hailey snorted. Petunia had been jealous as she had wanted to go on holiday that summer but couldn't as Vernon was supposedly going to be promoted soon so he was working overtime.

 **"You could just leave me here," Hailey put in hopefully (she'd be able to watch television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"He had some really cool games on there" Hailey sighed wistfully.

 **Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

"She always looks like that"

 **"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

 **"I won't blow up the house," she said, but they weren't listening.**

 **"I suppose we could take her to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave her in the car..."**

"What is she? A dog" snarled Molly.

"Technically you're not supposed to do that to dogs either" responded Remus though he looked equally upset.

"Not the time Mooney" whispered Sirius.

 **"That car's new, she's not sitting in it alone..."**

"Of course he thinks of the car not the human being" deadpanned Hermione though you could tell she was very upset.

 **Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"I could tell he was spoiled … but this … that's taking it to a new level" commented Madame Pomfrey. She looked rather stunned, much like most of the hall.

 **"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let her spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"She actually fell for that?!"

 **"I... don't... want... her... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "She always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Hailey a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. Most of the things she had supposedly 'spoiled' were actually things dudley had done and blamed on her just to get her into trouble.**

"Brat"

Mcgonagall looked at what she had to read next and narrowed her eyes.

 **Hailey subconsciously rubbed a small crescent moon shaped scar just above her elbow.**

The hall sat in horrified silence. Hailey sat straight, looking forward. Many turned to look at her, she didn't look any in the eye as she spoke.

"It was just a scratch from a nail when he shoved me into the cupboard, nothing more, nothing less"

"Are you sure?" asked Amelia Bones.

"Yes" Hailey responded, looking her in the eye this time. Most people in the hall looked satisfied at that. Hailey looked back at her hands ' _When he hits me he would never left a scar'._

 **Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them.**

"Arse-hole"

 **Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"Had to keep up his reputation" sneered a fourth year.

 **Half an hour later, Hailey, who couldn't believe her luck,**

"Urgh, I had to jinx it didn't I"

A few people laughed but most were worried about what happened.

 **was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in her life. Her aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with her, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Hailey aside.**

"He better not do anything" muttered Sirius.

 **"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Hailey's, "I'm warning you now, girl - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

To the casual observer Hailey looked completely unfazed at the threat however, those who knew her could detect her unease.

' _It wasn't as if he would go through with it'_ she thought, and then with a touch of humour added ' _the smell would annoy Petunia'._

Madame Bones was scribbling furiously on her notepad and so was Madame Pomfrey. The other aurors were taking notes as well.

 **"I'm not going to do anything," she said, "honestly..**

 **But Uncle Vernon didn't believe her. No one ever did.**

Nearly everyone in the hall shifted guiltily. They all, at some point or another, had accused her of something only for it to be proven false afterwards. Hailey herself was feeling justified. She always told the truth when she could, lies had put her in more danger than the truth had. If people actually told her what was going on maybe she wouldn't get into as much trouble.

 **The problem was, strange things often happen around Hailey and it was just no good telling the Dursleys she didn't make them happen.**

Remus and Sirius perked up at this, it seemed like it was talking about accidental magic. What accidental magic someone did was always a good indicator of magical strength and from what they know of her, she was a powerful witch.

 **Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Hailey coming back from the hairdressers looking as though she hadn't been at all,**

Molly Weasley sighed knowingly. She had offered to cut Hailey's hair when she was staying with them over the summer before second year. Hailey had laughed and told her that it wouldn't do anything. She attempted to cut it anyway only for it to go back to looking the same after only a few hours.

 **had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut her hair into a sort of messy bowl cut, except for her fringe which she left alone to "to hide that horrible scar." as she put it. Dudley had laughed himself silly**

 **at Hailey, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where she was already laughed at for wearing his cousins baggy cast offs and glasses that were only held together through a lot of tape.**

"Why didn't they get you new glasses?" asked a younger Hufflepuff.

"A waste of money apparently" grimaced Hailey. Her eyesight was as bad as it is because the Dursleys hadn't bothered to get her a new prescription in years. Luckily she managed to get a new pair of glasses that had a better prescription off Madame Pomfrey. She hadn't had any problems since so she suspected that the medi-witch had done something either to the glasses or to herself.

 **Next morning, however, she had gotten up to find her hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. She had been given a week in his cupboard for this,**

Remus started growling at this and the other adults didn't look much happier.

 **even though she had tried to explain, that she couldn't explain, how it had grown back so quickly.**

"Must have been" "Magic" whispered the twins in a theatrical voice. Hailey smiled faintly at that.

 **Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force her into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls)**

Anyone with any sense of fashion (everyone other than Umbridge) looked pale at the description of the jumper.

 **The harder she tried to pull it over her head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Hailey.**

"Yeah, i'm small but not that small" Hailey joked.

 **Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash**

"How stupid are they"

"Very apparently"

 **and, to his great relief, Hailey wasn't punished.**

"You shouldn't be punished for accidental magic" frowned Professor Mcgonagall. "It's dangerous"

Professor Dumbledore's ever present twinkle dimmed. He knew perfectly well how dangerous it was. ' _Arianna…'_ he thought sadly.

 **On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing her as usual**

"I'll chase the fat lump. See how he likes it." growled Sirius, Remus nodded in agreement.

"As you or padfoot" Hailey questioned. Both would cause her cousin to piss himself in fear.

Sirius pretended to be deep in thought then slowly said. "I was thinking both, at different times"

Hailey snorted into her hand, as did many others.

"What's more terrifying" quiped Hailey, "An angry dog or an angry, supposedly insane, prison escapee"

 **when, as much to Hailey's surprise as anyone else's, there she was sitting on the roof, behind the chimney.**

"Woah" went one of the first years.

"You accidently apperated!" Hermione exclaimed. Hailey nodded her head slowly.

"Yes?"

"Pup, many adults find apparition hard. To do it instinctively before you turn ten is amazing." said Sirius. He reached over and ruffled her hair as he smiled proudly.

 **The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Hailey's headmistress telling them she had been climbing school buildings. But all she'd tried to do (as she shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of her cupboard)**

The mention of the cupboard caused many to bristle in anger.

 **was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors.**

"Nice hiding spot" snickered George.

"It would be so _smelly_ " grimaced Lavender.

 **Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.**

"Well, you did look like a strong wind would knock you over dear" Molly Weasley commented. She gave Hailey a look and declared that Hailey would be going on a diet to gain some weight. Madame Pomfrey nodded in agreement and made a note to give the Weasley matriarch a list of what she should have. The wrong foods could be counter productive.

 **But today, nothing was going to go wrong.**

"Famous last words" Hailey muttered. Those who've been on one of her adventures, winced, Hailey had the weirdest luck.

 **It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, her cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room. While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things, alot.**

"He does seem the type"

 **Personally, Hailey thought that was all he did. His favorite things to complain about were of course: people at work (Like every other adult she had ever met),**

This comment was met with many laughs, particularly from those who had parents in the Ministry.

 **Hailey (not that she did anything wrong he just hated the fact she existed),**

Almost everyone in the hall looked disgusted. Hailey was a national hero, she still was, even though the Ministry and The Daily Proffit were doing their best to discredit her. She had still saved them all. Her 'mere existence' meant the end of Voldemort's reign of terror. No one wanted to imagine what would have happened if she didn't exist and some muggle dare hate her for it. It was an outrage.

While many plotted ways to get revenge on the Dursley patriarch, the senior under secretary to the minister tried to find ways to work this to her and her darling Fudge's advantage.

 **The council, Hailey, The bank (because if he wasn't doing some kind of fraud Hailey would eat her wand)**

That got many to laugh, it was a funny image. Madame Bones leaned over to Shacklebolt and whispered something into his ear. He made a note in his notebook and nodded at her.

 **and Hailey were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

"He better not diss Motorcycles" muttered Sirius. Remus hit him round to head.

 **"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

Sirius started grumbling about heathens that don't understand the brilliance of the motorcycle.

 **I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Hailey, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

Hailey groaned, she had been so distracted by what was outside the window that when she heard the word motorcycle she just said what was on her mind.

 **Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Hailey, his face like a gigantic beetroot with a mustache, spittle flying everywhere.**

"EWW" squealed Lavender.

"Dean, could you draw that" Seamus asked his best friend.

"Sure thing" he laughed.

 **"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

"What are you talking about, of course they can fly"

"In the _muggle world_ Sirius"

 **Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

" **I know they don't," she retorted. "It was only a dream."**

 **But she wished she hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than Hailey asking questions, it was her talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think she might get dangerous ideas.**

"Hailey doesn't need cartoons to have dangerous ideas. She creates them naturally" snorted Ron. Hermione and Madame Pomfrey nodded in agreement. Hailey had her own bed in the hospital wing due to her dangerous ideas.

"What's a cartoon?" asked the Weasley twins. Any sane muggle raised in the hall looked at each other in fear. The twins were terrifying enough without watching looney tunes.

 **It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Hailey what she wanted before they could hurry her away, they bought her a cheap lemon lolly. It wasn't bad, either, Hailey thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

Everyone laughed. Dean pulled out a notebook and started scribbling down ideas of things to draw. Hailey's life seemed to be full if inspiration.

 **Hailey had the best morning she'd had in a long time.**

"Yeah, I enjoyed the zoo" Hailey smiled in remembrance.

"That settles it. We're going to the zoo for your birthday" Sirius decided. Remus, Molly and Arthur nodded in agreement. The girl deserved it.

 **She was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting her.**

Sirius snarled, it seemed he was going to do this every time they mentioned someone hurting Hailey. Hailey worried about how much damage his throat would take, lots of people had tried to kill her after all.

 **They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Hailey was allowed to finish the first.**

 **Hailey felt, afterward, that she should have known it was all too good to last.**

Hailey blanched and groaned,"Potter luck strikes again".

Ron patted her back in sympathy while Hermione looked curious.

 **After lunch they went to the reptile house.**

"Ohh. Yeah that explains it" she muttered in realisation as she looked at Hailey's face and body language.

 **It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

 **"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"You're really not supposed to do that. There a signs and everything telling you not to" muttered a first year.

"Does Potter's Uncle look like someone who would take that advice" her friend responded.

 **"Do it again," Dudley ordered.**

"If one of my sons had dared order me that they would be grounded they would have been grounded until they were fifty"

 **Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"That snake is so me after the end of year tests" muttered a sixth year slytherin.

 **"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. Hailey moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake.**

"Never look a snake in the eye" One twin went.

"They always win staring contests" the other followed.

"Why do i have a feeling that you've tried that" Ginny sighed.

 **SHe wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

"You are literally comparing your life to a trapped snake's" muttered Ron.

Hailey rolled her eyes, "It's not like I knew anything different".

 **The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes.**

"That's impossible, snakes don't have eyelids." stated a slytherin.

 **Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Hailey's. It winked.**

"Impossible"

 **She stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. She looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

Hailey shook her head as others laughed. Thinking about it, she must have looked insane.

 **The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Hailey a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time."**

Remus raised his eyebrows. Hailey put her head in her hands and started to laugh quietly. Though worried about Sirius' reaction to her being a parselmouth, what happened had been rather funny.

 **"I know," Hailey murmured through the glass, though she wasn't sure the snake could hear her. "It must be really annoying."**

Ron and Hermione started laughing, that was such a Hailey thing to do, start a conversation with a snake because she was bored. They could picture this scene clearly and couldn't stop laughing.

 **The snake nodded vigorously. "Where do you come from, anyway?" Hailey asked.**

More people started snickering. It wasn't helped when Harmony, with Hailey's permission, showed a visual of what was happening. There was no audio, but everyone could see eleven year old Hailey Potter staring eye to eye with a snake, with only a pane of glass between them, having a casual conversation about life.

 **The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Hailey peered at it.**

 **Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

 **"Was it nice there?"**

 **The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Hailey read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"**

Even more people started laughing at the absurdity of the Girl-Who-Lived, the Gryffindor-Golden-Girl, holding a conversation with a snake, the symbol of Slytherin, looking completely at ease. Something niggled in the back of Sirius' mind.

 **The snake shook its head sadly. Hailey thought back to a long forgotten Geography lesson and decided to tell the snake about what she knew about Brazil.**

" **Well, Brazil is in South America and is home to the Amazon Rainforest and is home to over two thousand different species of animals" Pausing to think of more things to say, Hailey was blindsided by Piers yelled right next to her.**

 **"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

 **Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

 **"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Hailey in the ribs.**

Hailey sucked in a sharp breath as she felt the punch for a second time, though it might have been her imagination but it didn't seem as painful as she remembered. However that could be because her pain tolerance had increased since then. Sirius growled from the back of his throat.

 **Caught by surprise, Hailey fell hard on the concrete floor.**

She grit her teeth. She noted that the pain only happened as it was read out. That could be useful in the near future.

 **What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

The visual had disappeared the moment Hailey felt pain as it was her concentration that had kept it up there, but that didn't stop anyone from visualizing what happened.

 **Hailey sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor tank had vanished.**

"Congratulations Miss Potter, now if only you could repeat that in class then you will have no problem passing your O. " commented Professor Mcgonagall.

 **The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

 **As the snake slid swiftly past him, Hailey could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

"Your a parselmouth!" exclaimed Sirius. He looked down at his God-daughter and saw her shake and curl up a bit.

'What in the… oh' he thought. Realising what she was worried about he put an arm around her and pulled her into his side. He lent down and whispered into her ear.

"I don't care about any special abilities you have, you are still my God-daughter and I will be here for as long as I can. Even when your tired and fed up with me, i'll be there". Hailey took a shuddering breath as she buried her face in his chest. They sat there like that until she had stopped shaking. She hugged him tightly and they stayed like that for the rest of the chapter, taking comfort in each others presence.

 **The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

 **"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"Did the obliviators ever hear about this" wondered Tonks.

Madame Bones wrote that down in her notebook. If they had, then she needed to find out why she hadn't heard about this. It involved the Girl-Who-Lived and as such, was a high profile case, it was her job to be informed of this. It was worrying as it meant, either she purposely wasn't informed (meaning she would have to investigate and most likely fire someone), the obliviators hadn't investigated as they were supposed to (which meant that again, someone needed to get fired) or the obliviators hadn't known about this and hundreds of muggles had seen magic without it being covered up (meaning the statue had been broken and the wizarding world was at risk, because if it could happen once it could happen again). She sighed, this was going to be a hell of a lot of paperwork.

 **The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Hailey had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.**

"Cry babies" scoffed Hermione.

 **But worst of all, for Hailey at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Hailey was talking to it, weren't you, loser?"**

 **Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Hailey. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He got up in her face and shoved her against the wall.**

Hailey flinched and shuddered in Sirius' arms, she could feel the wall on her back and she needed Sirius to remind her that it was in the past. Sirius tightened his arms around her and swore to himself that he would get revenge on the useless SOB's who hurt his pup.

 **He growled at her and managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"Yes, lets give to violent angry man alcohol, i'm sure that will end well" snarked Snape, thinking of his own father. He looked over at the girl's group and watched them all be there for her. Like Lilly was for him, a voice in the back of his head mused.

 **Hailey lay in her dark cupboard much later, wishing she had a watch. She didn't know what time it was and she couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, she couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"You shouldn't have to sneak around for food in your own home"

 **He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years.**

Dumbledore, Hagrid and Professor Mcgonagall looked extremely guilty at this. Most of the room looked angry at this as this was a national hero and to hear that she had an awful childhood because of the Potter's sacrifice while everyone else celebrated and enjoyed the peace it brought, hurt.

 **As long as she could remember, ever since she'd been a baby and her parents had died in that car crash.**

"Hope you end up in a car crash" muttered Dennis Creevey.

 **She couldn't remember being in the car when her parents had died. Sometimes, when she strained her memory during long hours in the cupboard, she came up with a strange vision: a blinding**

 **flash of green light and a burning pain on her forehead.**

Everyone flinched, though those who had ever seriously considered how she survived looked interested.

 **This, she supposed, was the crash, though she couldn't imagine where all the green light came from.**

"It wa kind of obvious it wasn't a car crash looking back. How did I ever believe that!"

 **She couldn't remember her parents at all.**

Everyone who knew James and Lily flinched. She should have known them, she should have grown up with them. It was upsetting that their only daughter didn't remember anything about them. Silently, many across the hall swore to themselves that they would tell Hailey all the stories of her parents.

 **Her aunt and uncle never spoke about them, kindly anyway, they liked to insinuate that her dad was a drunk,**

Sirius and Remus started growling. Madame Bones looked over at her and said loudly so everyone could hear.

"James Potter was one of the finest Aurors our department every had." looking directly at the girl she continued, "I can tell you some stories about him and how much trouble he got himself into sometime."

She smiled to herself when Hailey looked up and smiled in thanks.

 **And her mother was a prostitute.**

Snape, while not as obvious as the remaining marauders, was also livid. The scowl on his face grew and he started trying to think of ways to get back at the dursleys without landing himself in Azkaban. He decided that for this situation only, and no more, that he was going to help the marauders.

 **Of course she was forbidden to ask questions and everytime she tried to get the Dursleys to stop she was locked back up in the cupboard with a few bruises as a reward.**

Remus' eyes flashed amber and many others were looking murderous. Many looked ready to start yelling but they remembered her reaction earlier. Bones wrote it down in her notebook before looking at Sirius. He nodded and pulled Hailey even closer and hugged her tight.

 **There were no photographs of them in the house.**

Hagrid was suddenly very glad he gave her that photo album.

 **When she had been younger, Hailey had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take her away, but it had never happened.**

Sirius looked really guilty and whispered apologies he had already made over and over again and promised yet again that he would never leave again. She only hugged him tighter and told him that he was here now and that was all that mattered.

 **The Dursleys were her only family.**

Remus looked guilty, the Potter's had been family to him and he had failed their daughter by being too afraid of himself. He promised himself to never let that stop him again.

 **Yet sometimes she thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know her. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

Some of the younger muggle-borns laughed, they had thought that most wizards and witches were strange. Now they're used to it but it was entertaining to hear someone else react like they had.

 **A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to her once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley.**

Quite a few cracked a smile at that.

 **After asking Hailey furiously if she knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at her once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken her hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a** **closer look.**

"How careless can we be" muttered Arthur.

 **At school, Hailey had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Hailey Potter in her baggy old boys clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang. The other girls wouldn't talk to her as to be seen with her 'cramped their style'. She was considered a troublemaker as everything went wrong around her.**

Hailey ignored the words, she had heard them hundreds of times already. Hermione and Ron looked at eachother and promised to be better friends, they had screwed up a few times and they didn't want Hailey to feel like she had no one ever again.

Umbridge was about to comment in how that hadn't changed but Fudge silenced her. He still didn't believe You-Know-Who was back, didn't want to believe it, but this was the Girl-Who-Lived who he, and their people had seemingly failed. She was having her life read out, he couldn't imagine himself going through that, and if she was lying why go through with it. He decided to do the smart thing and wait and see what happens and he couldn't have his undersecretary spoiling that. If he was wrong and the girl was right, endearing himself to her should let him keep his job.

Amelia Bones looked at everything she had written down and decided she needed to speak to the girl as quickly as she could. Firstly, she needed to get a concrete list of all the Dursley's crimes and get a case together. Secondly, she needed to speak to her about whether Voldemort was really back, she needed evidence before she could start preparations for a second war and without the girl's testimony, it was all hearsay.

Professor Mcgonagall closed the book as that was the end of the chapter. She wished it ended at a nicer place but that was the end. She thought about the subject of the story and vowed to herself to be there for the girl, she was the daughter of two of her favorite lions and she had also found her way into her old heart.

Professor Flitwick took the book from where his colleague had put it and stood up on his chair. The hall was busy talking about what happened in the chapter and wasn't paying attention. He cleared his throat to try and grab everyone's attention. No one looked at him. He decided to take a page out of Albus' book and waved his wand, causing a loud bang to echo around the hall. He smiled to himself and started to talk.

"Now, I know everyone wants to discuss what happened in the last chapter, however, if we are to get through these books we need to keep reading. I propose a break every five chapters, so in three chapters time. This means we have a schedule we can follow and can get through these books quickly so we can get back to lessons in a few days time."

Everyone seemed to agree so he sat back down and announced the title of the next chapter.

"The Letters from no one"


End file.
